Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene and order the release of the state’s withheld local government allocations, warning that workers across the councils are “suffering severely” as the crisis drags on.
In a statewide broadcast on Monday, Adeleke said the continued seizure of the funds has crippled grassroots governance and pushed his administration into unsustainable borrowing to keep essential workers including primary school teachers, health workers and council staff — on the payroll.
“The situation is becoming unbearable. Local government allocations are the lifeline for teachers, nurses, traditional councils and retirees. Without these funds, our people are the ones paying the price,” the governor said.
The allocations were frozen following a protracted political and legal battle over the control of the 30 local government councils in Osun.
The crisis erupted after the state government conducted council elections in February 2025, which were boycotted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party following disputes over the status of previously sacked APC chairmen.
Despite advice from the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, to halt the exercise and reinstate the APC chairmen based on an earlier appellate court ruling, Adeleke went ahead with the polls, which his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won clean sweep.
The APC subsequently petitioned the Federal Government to withhold the councils’ statutory allocations, arguing that the elections were unlawful.
Although the Supreme Court, in December, struck out a suit filed by the Osun Attorney-General seeking to compel the release of the funds on the grounds that he lacked locus standi, the apex court also declared that the Federal Government acted illegally by withholding the allocations and dismissed allegations of contempt against the state.
Adeleke, however, said the funds remain unreleased, leaving local governments financially strangulated.
The governor directly accused his predecessor and current Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, of backing the ousted APC chairmen to continue occupying council secretariats despite court decisions and the expiration of their tenure in October 2025.
“Even if the courts had not removed them, their four-year tenure elapsed in October last year. Yet, they continue to occupy council offices by brute force, allegedly with police protection acting on the instructions of the former governor,” Adeleke said.
He described the situation as an assault on democracy and the rule of law, insisting that Osun’s elected local government officials must be allowed to function without interference.
Adeleke revealed that for almost 12 months, his government has been forced to borrow from state coffers to pay salaries of council workers, teachers and health personnel, except for traditional councils.
“To raise these funds, we suspended allowances for senior civil servants and political appointees. This has caused discomfort and slowed down key projects, but we had no choice. Workers must not suffer,” he said.
He warned that the arrangement was no longer sustainable and could plunge the state into deeper financial stress if the stalemate persists.
Appeal to Tinubu
The governor appealed directly to President Tinubu, saying he believed the president was “not involved in this illegality” and urging him to act swiftly to restore normalcy to grassroots governance in Osun.
“I call on Mr President to protect the integrity of our democracy by rescuing Osun local governments from the vice grip of those whose self-awarded tenure has long expired,” Adeleke said.
Political observers say the Osun local government crisis has become one of the most volatile inter-party conflicts in the South-West, with implications for federal-state relations, judicial authority and the autonomy of local councils.
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